Star Law: A Marshal Cole Series

Chapter 18 (a)

Richard Tilston-Horn looked at his friend Marshal Garner Cole standing next to the desk by a video flatscreen looking over the security footage he brought over. Somewhere in there lay a clue as to the suspect. It had been ten years earlier that they'd first met. He'd been a deep covert agent and Cole a young Navy Lieutenant with the Navy Special Ops.

His heart ached briefly with those thoughts as this was this was when he also met Lieutenant Breanna McCormack, Cole's partner. She had entered his life with a bang and left it with what might have been the biggest man-made bang in human history. After only knowing her two months, she was lost to him. He could not say for sure if she was dead. He chose not to believe it was true. Certainly Cole never believed it. There had been enough time for her to escape. At least that is what he kept telling himself. One thing that was clear. She was cut off. That is, until the Black Adder Cloud began to retreat.

"Is Doc Kripisov aboard?" Horn asked. He was looking at an autopsy picture on the monitor and saw Kriprisov's name.

"Yes," replied Cole. "She is the ship medical officer and has been instrumental in the autopsy and forensic exam."

"Hmm," mused Horn. "Everyone back together again. Last time I saw her was on that slow ride back to Earth treating our wounds."

"I remember all too well," said Cole.

Horn looked over the data on the screen and frowned. "No real forensic data at the crime scene, evidence of video tampering and two deaths so far. One aboard the ship and one elsewhere but body found here. A uniform in a cargo container suggesting a connection to psi in some way."

"That is about the sum of it," Cole said, tight jawed.

"When I first met you, you always came at situations from a few angles," Horn began. "It is what made you effective in military strategy and likely gives you your strength in your policing. I always said you'd make a good spy too."

Cole gave him a cockeyed smile. "Didn't I have an apprenticeship with you already?"

"You did indeed," said Horn. "And what did you learn?"

Cole stroked his chin and pondered. "I learned that good intelligence comes from good surveillance."

"Exactly," said Horn. "The ship security system is pretty good, I imagine. It might have been tampered with but not all the time lest the computer detect it."

"I mentioned to a crew member that I sensed that our suspect was intelligent but not experienced," Cole began. "It is why I asked that computers examine video footage of adjacent corridors to where some of the crime scenes were."

A chime sounded. It was a direct feed to the viewscreen.

"This is what you were waiting for?" asked Horn.

"The crew member I was talking about," said Cole. "He went to the Security Office to analyze video feeds with the captain's droid. This could be the report now."

"Well, bring it up," said Horn.

Cole complied and two video stills went up on the screen. One was shot of an adjacent corridor to Aubrey Chase Chen's cabin two days before she was killed. The second was a camera shot at an odd angle near the cargo container doors. The first picture showed long blonde hair in a braid or a pony-tail. No other features were discernible, not even the head really. It was difficult to even judge the height although the hair seemed to be of a female. The second shot was also of the blond hair peeking around a corner and of a hand on the wall. A ring was around what looked like a female thumb.

"I think we have just found the first clues to our suspect," said Cole.

"Yes, a blonde of indeterminate age, height or weight with a ring around her thumb," Horn remarked. "If she changes her hair colour and jewelry you might be a bit lost."

"All of what you say is true," said Cole smiling. "But now we can backtrack even further and look for more leads. We just had a breakthrough."